A number of fancy
tales exist to document the relationship between the man who
would become George I of England and his court composer Georg
Frederic Handel. They are all great tales, but alas, none of
them seem to be true, and it would be more accurate to say
that the former Elector of Hanover cared little for music,
and could not have cared less about the goings-on of his young
and celebrated court composer. It is said, of course, that
the Water Music, one of Handel’s most famous works,
was composed for the King’s boat trip down the Thames, but
there is little documentation as to the occasion for its composition,
and whether the King actually participated in any boat trip
that required a musical accompaniment is doubtful.

Regardless of King
George’s travel plans, we are left with a magnificent set of
orchestral suites, largely patterned after the example of Lully,
in which an overture, begun by a highly ornamental dotted rhythmic
gesture was followed by a fugue, and followed thereafter by
dances in pairs with varying orchestrations.

Maestro Labadie
leads one of the most energetic and most French performances
of this much recorded music that I have heard in some time.
Particularly in the overture to suite one, the excessive use
of the French style trill with its long opening appoggiatura
started to make me sea sick. Perhaps that’s appropriate. That
little quibble aside, Labadie chooses near perfect tempi, none
of the frenetic rush that is the downfall of many a Musica
Antique Köln recording, nor none of the hyper-romantic slowness
that occurred when this music was left in the hands of a Karajan
or a Bernstein.

This is lively,
spirited playing and Les Violons du Roy make the music fresh
and alive, truly a new listening experience. It is easy to
pass off the four hundredth recording of a work like the Water
Music with a big “oh no, not again!” But these musicians make
you listen as they exploit the vivid colors of Handel’s imaginative
and for the time, far reaching orchestrations. (The use of
hunting horns was a relatively new innovation in orchestral
writing at the time, and he used both recorders and transverse
flutes for more variety in the winds.)

Rounded off with
two tastefully played selections from Solomon, this is an entertaining
disc, and a good choice of performances when you want go revisit
such favorite pieces as these.

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